If truth be told, I was going to do write ups of two events for the festival, and paint my names in lights.  Yet Stuart Maconie’s ‘Hope and Glory’ was less of an event and more of a riotous tour of anecdotes from his years of experience in and around the music scene, and proliferations of his various ‘urban myths’ (David Bowie invented Connect Four…).  For a brief time Maconie looked as though he would talk at some length about his book, only to launch into more anecdotes.  This was no bad thing, though made it impossible to summarise.

And Allan Stratton’s event – a film screening of ‘Life, Above All’, the adaptation of his novel Chanda’s Secrets – should not be so much written about, as experienced.  The film was incredibly powerful, and dealt with the topic of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa with deft assurance: I’m all ready part way through the book.

I can only suggest you try them both for yourself.

The multi-media end of the blog fell through though.  A heady mix of my own ineptitude with ‘new technology’ and WordPress not playing ball has resulted in a podcast recorded, and ready for upload, though with no way to broadcast it to the world.  The photoblog also didn’t quite materialise, though we’ve had plenty of (high quality!) photography scattered throughout the many articles that appear on this blog.

Despite these minor draw backs though, I think this blog has been a success, as it has slowly spread the message of literature into the heart of the Midlands.

Thank you to Writing West Midlands for organising the festival, thank you to the writers that have made this blog, and thank you for reading.

And to finish, here is a warts and all collage of all the good, bad, and really mediocre pictures my poor little camera took… because I couldn’t quite figure out how to do a slideshow.

Following my interview with Jenn Ashworth a couple of weeks ago, I was looking forward to going to the MAC to hear her talk about her new book, ‘A Cold Light’. Things didn’t start well for me though. I walked up to the reception to ask where I needed to go, unscrewing the lid from my fizzy water as I did so. Before the unfortunate guy had time to answer, a fountain of sparking elderflower water erupted from the bottle and drench myself and everyone nearby in carbonated water and sweeteners. After requesting a cleanup in reception into his walkie-talkie,  I was directed to the hexagon theatre where the events was taking place, I managed to get there on time and sat down, so it looked like things were starting to pick up at least.

I tried to sit on the end so no one would recognise me from my bottle spraying incident, but I sat in the front row because I was feeling keen.  Jenn kicked things of by reading to us from ‘A Cold Light’, her latest novel about three teenage girls living the darker side of life,  caught up in an adult world they can’t cope wtih, where jealousy, arguments and psychological trauma begin to engulf them. Jenn read aloud a bit where a body is unexpectedly uncovered live on TV. ‘A Cold Light’ has been described as a psychological thriller, and although this may over-summarise it a little, I definitely don’t think it’s too far off the mark. What I think is most striking about Jenn’s writing, is her ability to elicit humour from events so dark. We laugh aloud, then stop and think, ‘Hang on, did I really just laugh at something that horrific?!’.  To create layered emotions such as these from readers is something that I think takes great skill.

After this introduction, Jenn spoke to Gregory Leadbetter, a lecturer in English at Birmingham City University.  She tells us that she doesn’t think about her style of writing too much as it comes from her characters, not from herself.  Her main concern when writing ‘A Cold Light’ was that the adult voice of Lola would be different to her adolescent voice, but would still be recognisable. Honing little details to characters such as this is something that makes ‘A Cold Light’ so unique – the creation of atmosphere and unbearable tensions sets it apart from other books about teenage rebellion. Jenn tells us about how one of her first ever attempts at writing saw a bunch of field mice being massacred by a combine harvester. After hearing this information, I think it was a bit clearer to the audience where her novels get their sinister edge.

Next we hear another extract from the book read out loud, a scene that Jenn says ‘flew upwards into my mind like a dream’. I won’t give away to you what happens but it is one of the most captivating and atmospheric bits of writing I have heard in a long time. I think this section in particular demonstrates how the novel isn’t just about a group of troubled teenage girls, it is about how stories shape and damage us, a prophecy both tormenting and profound, as Jenn explains how we accept conclusions about ourselves and are ‘poisoned’ by these when we become adults. Jenn describes herself as a realist, rather than a pessimist or an optimist, and although she set out to write a happy ending with ‘A Cold Light’, she can’t deny the fact she’s always been interested in the more shadowy details of life.

When asked if she is ever truly satisfied with her writing, Jenn quotes Paul Valery, who once said that ‘Poems are never finished, only abandoned’.  Although it’s hard to believe ‘A Cold Light’ could capture feelings and places any more accurately, it was an interesting quote and definitely gave us something to think about as we went out into the sunshine. Jenn says her aim as an author is to change people, even if it is just a tiny bit, and I think she achieved that this evening. I went home and changed my clothes, because they were saturated with elderflower water, but I’ll definitely be looking forward to Jenn’s next book with excitement.  The evening was a definite success because there is no way anyone in the audience could have sat through those extract readings and not wanted to rush out and buy the book afterwards. If you too want to rush out and buy it, ‘A Cold Light’ is out now.

On Thursday, as part of the Birmingham Book Festival, Fazeley Studios hosted Dice Slam: A Hit the Ode Special, featuring poets from eight different nations. Tucked away in the depths of Digbeth, the stunning venue is a beautifully bright, open plan conversion, complete with large art prints and boutique furniture pieces lining the entrance hall. The performance room was light but intimate, allowing the captivating poets to completely own the space with their work.

This poetry slam was competitive spoken word with a twist: each performance was awarded a score based on the role of a dice. This score was then justified or contested by a panel of judges, often with hilarious results. Throughout the evening, we heard poems from the UK as well as Germany, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands, sometimes in poets’ native language. Subtitles for these poems were provided on a screen projection, allowing us to follow the content more closely. However, even where no translation was provided, the performances were just as powerful, perhaps made even more gripping by the intense focus on the rhythm, sound and delivery of the poem. Lisbon-based rapper ‘B-Boy’ Biru’s poems were especially fascinating, the patterns of his language having an almost hypnotic effect on the audience. This made clear the sheer power of spoken word as an art form, even when presented in an unfamiliar language.

Following many a ridiculous justification of the purely random and often disgraceful dice scores awarded to these fantastic poets, the audience voted for the favourite critic, choosing between Canadian writer Kimberly Trusty, writer and literature promoter Jonathan Davidson and Birmingham University’s very own (by this point rather inebriated) Luke Kennard. Jonathan Davidson had a clear victory, shown by the sea of yellow (or ‘gold’) vote cards wafted by the audience, and probably a result of his quiet, ironic charm when explaining the low dice scores to such stunning spoken word artists. All in all, the concept of this scoring system was of course ludicrous and completely inaccurate. It certainly made for great entertainment though, creating a brilliantly pointless competitive element to a display of so many talented poets. A great evening was had by all and, in the end, performance poetry was the true winner.

Jayne Howarth held a very informative workshop this Saturday, 15^th October at the South Birmingham College, Digbeth for budding journalists as part of Birmingham Book Festival Week.

Howarth gave practical advice on the structuring of news stories, converting the mundane events of daily life into stories and adapting a piece for different media.

On news articles, Howarth utilised the renowned Inverse Pyramid diagram highlighting the importance of attention grabbing leads, a unified main body of text with quotes that should be quite concise and, finally, a conclusion that wraps up the article bringing it full circle. The journalist informed that readers decide if they want to read on after just thirty words, so it’s vital that your title is short and snappy; you only have three seconds to grab their attention.

The changing landscape of journalism means it is now essential for any journalist to get to grips with the latest gadgets and technology; with formal articles shifting to informal Blogs online, Facebook making way for Twitter updates, podcasts putting tape recorders to shame and iPod gizmos and their Apps ruling the media world.

According to the cliché, “It is not what you know, but who you know”. So it is no surprise that networking is indispensable for getting work, getting noticed and getting published in the world of journalism. Howarth illustrated how Blogs and Twitter make it easier to do just that in the modern world; commenting on other writer’s Blogs on similar topics increases awareness of your own, as you automatically leave your username on their page and adding links to your comments or Twitter updates enable you to branch out to new contacts and build a virtual rapport with them- you could even bag work experience with these cyber shoulder taps.  Another way to ensure more visits to your website is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), which involves adding tags to your posts and repetition of related words in the first paragraph which are easily detected by Google and the like.

Howarth listed the traits that make a successful journalist, which included a nose for a story, interviewing and shorthand skills (essential for when technology does let you down), being a good storyteller and knowing how to write for your audience, not yourself. On good stories, the host stressed the need for WOW factor but simultaneously maintaining credibility- you are selling yourself after all. It is also important to ensure articles are timely; stick to the story use-by-date so as not to be old hat. Controversy is great, but avoid lawsuits by making sure it is all legal!

www.writethismoment.com and www.journalism.co.uk are great sites to look for writing opportunites. Follow @Jayne Howarth on Twitter.

I arrived early at the Ikon Gallery for Alan Hollinghurst’s reading, and treated myself to a posh drink, because I’d found some money on the floor on my way there, so I felt positively rich! The place was absolutely buzzing, the restaurant and bar was full of people who’d arrived early to treat themselves to tapas before Hollinghurst’s talk (I knew this, because all of them were clinging on to the tickets they had picked up just before ordering their food), and there was a wonderful warm and excited atmosphere.

The buzz and excitement moved upstairs, as we changed to the rather wonderful setting for Hollinghurst’s reading. I have to admit, although I’ve read his books I had, until last night, no idea what he actually looked like, so I did spend the beginning of the wait looking around and trying to guess who he was. I ended up picking the campest looking man there, but unfortunately my guess was wrong.

Hollinghurst and his interviewer were at stark contrast to each other. She was eager and bubbly, compared to his witty, but very dry drawl. Throughout the interview he was an amusing interviewee and we learned things about his writing, like the fact that he usually starts a novel with a small germ of an idea, and the stories themselves usually come last. When he first started writing he was also working full time, and in order to advance the novel he would take three weeks off work and life, completely isolate himself in order to get as much done as possible, and that even now he is a full time writer, he still writes like this.  Hollinghurst’s new novel, The Stranger’s Child, spans a distance of almost one hundred years, covering many periods, one of which is the First World War. This led to a question from an audience member who asked about Hollinghurst’s research style, and (in my opinion) his most interesting answer, that he never does much research because he does  not like it when information replaces imagination in fiction.

It was, however, when he was doing his readings, that Hollinghurst really shone. His voice became livelier, his face constantly on the verge of a smile, and the audience’s tittering turned to laughter. He even did different voices when he was reading out dialogue! I found his readings so entertaining and interesting, that even though I couldn’t really afford it, I ended up buying his new book and joining the queue to have it signed. Alan Hollinghurst was a charming and polite man with a twinkle in his eye, but, like many other writers out there, his handwriting leaves a lot to be desired.

Attending a writing workshop is often a bizarre experience – you can never be quite sure what to expect. Every writer is different, and as many people argue, is there one definitive way to teach someone to write creatively? However, after a morning spent with author of ‘My Summer of Love’ and ‘Black Coffee and Spilt Milk’, Helen Cross, I’ve learnt that it’s incredibly important to know the basics of writing fiction before embarking on your debut novel! Is it the plot that’s important, or the writing? How do you captivate your readers, andprovoke their imagination?

Helen used a few well-known techniques – first, an object was placed in front of us, and we were told to write ten sentences describing it – which produced some very diverse but very striking pieces of writing. Reading between the lines, the other idea behind this first task was to read your work out in front of a group of strangers – nerve-wracking, but something essential to the process. From this, I learnt that forcing yourself to produce writing under pressure can generate some great results.

try and describe this sheep without 'white' or 'fluffy' and you're on the right track

We were also introduced to the importance of ambition and accuracy in language. Helen stressed that the avoidance of bad writing – clichés, obvious word choices, and banal, common descriptions – goes without saying if you’re serious about your work. In this part of the workshop, we had to describe an animal with every appropriate word we could think of, and we were then asked to write about it without the use of any of those common words. Although difficult, this proved that the longer you take trying to find the perfect word or phrase produces a much more provoking and intelligent sentence. As Helen said, “Readers don’t want to hear what they already know,” which is an important thing to remember. Commonplace adjectives are predictable regurgitations of a thousand descriptions everyone has heard before – and “getting rid of the familiar” is a great place to start.

Another task that proved useful was one concerning the involvement of sensory language in writing fiction. We were told to describe an extreme weather condition in which we found ourselves, and advised to focus on the emotions and senses that this situation provoked. It demonstrated the effectiveness of personal experience when writing, and channelling imagined plots into something that will ultimately develop your character. A scene should reveal something definitive to the plot, or the character – as Helen remarked, “if it doesn’t, it’s probably useless.”

Discovering so many of the essential qualities for a good piece of fiction was really enlightening, and Helen continued the workshop with a few pointers on structure and direction. We learnt that involving the reader in your work is the most valuable thing you can do – a reader has to be allowed to exercise their minds, to answer posed questions and work out meanings. Fiction is about the “slow revelation of information,” to the reader, like unwrapping something slowly. With the final task, we read an interesting news article, and then came up with ways to write the story – the different points of view that could be used, the sequence of events, and the timeline.

Ultimately, the most useful thing to remember when writing according to Helen is that the plot is the easy part. Inspiration can be taken from so many every day situations; news stories, personal experience – and can be cultivated into a fantastic idea. But Helen finished off by reminding us that the only way your writing will succeed is by putting in time, thought and hard effort into the writing itself – through practice of technique, refining of language, and most importantly, a consistent and undying passion for writing!

the crowd gather in anticipation

I have to admit that before this event the only thing I knew about Ian Rankin was that he was the author of the Rebus series – that ITV crime drama my parents will occasionally watch.  Interestingly, Rankin told us during the evening that he actually has nothing to do with the television adaptation of his book, having never watched an episode, read a script, or come across an actor he believes comes close to his character.  Being a writer so famed for one series of books, Rankin was obviously aware of his audience’s expectations and he opened with an anecdote on why he felt “Rebus had to go”.  In 2006, a policeman, who helped Rankin extensively with his research throughout his years penning the Rebus novels, asked how old Rebus was.  Police retirement age in Scotland was at that time 60, and as Rebus was then 59, Rankin realised his days were numbered.  Humorous anecdotes about MPs in the Scottish Parliament debating raising the retirement age to 65 purely so the fictional detective could stay in work were told; Rankin’s fans were satisfied, lapping up every word out of the Scot’s mouth.

a reading from the adventures of Malcolm Fox

Rankin talked about Rebus as if he were an old friend, as though he actually existed, and I guess when you’ve been writing about a character for 24 years (Rankin’s first Rebus novel Knots and Crosses was published in 1987) it inevitably becomes this way.  Authors often speak about their ‘characters leading them’ in their writing and formulating ‘their’ own plot, with the author becoming little more than a scribe.  This has always seemed paradoxical to me, believing it to be a pretentious stereotype fabricated by authors wanting their art to be seen in a certain light.  However, Rankin seemed like such a genuine and down-to-earth man that when he launched into this cliché, it seemed plausible.  He spoke in depth about ‘not knowing who had committed the crime’ in his latest novel, The Impossible Dead, until it was revealed to him at the end of his writing.  There were characters he believed would be main ones who faded and minor characters who were promoted to the foreground.  As part of his Rebus series, for example, he had visions of a trilogy within the series based around a certain character: this character was dead by page 50 of the first book of the unfulfilled trilogy.

Whilst Rebus was enjoying his retirement, Rankin felt he should embrace the freedom he now had to expand his horizons.  During the evening he spoke of some of the projects he took part in after the Rebus series had finished.  “Five:15” was a Scottish Opera venture where five writers, who had never written opera, teamed with five composers, who had never written opera, create a fifteen minute operetta.  24 years of Rebus meant Rankin’s ideas inevitably revolved around a detective in Edinburgh: although Rankin was happy with the outcome it was “too much like hard work” and he vowed “never again”.  His next venture was a life-long dream; to create a comic book.  This involved writing over a thousand pages of very precise script for an illustrator to draw exactly what Rankin pictured.  Proud and satisfied with the outcome, he thought it “too much like hard work” and vowed never again.  This led him right back to the comfort zone of novels and after inspiring words from his wife on choosing to write on absolutely anything he wished, he decided to write a series novel based around a central inspector working in Edinburgh.

Rankin’s new character, Malcolm Fox, is the “antithesis of Rebus” he assured the fans (not that any would be particularly disgruntled by Rebus under a different guise).  Fox is an Internal Affairs officer who works on investigating his own colleagues in malpractice.  The author did seem genuinely excited by Fox, and taking his novels in this slightly different direction, as he described himself as much more like Fox than Rebus; Fox is a methodical and cautious in his work as opposed to Rebus’s well-loved “bull in a china shop” manner.  This new novel is based on a true unsolved crime from the 1980s when the political climate was turbulent.  Rankin chose this tempestuous backdrop of the 80s as he believes it resonates with today’s political and economic fears.  People, he detailed, have the inherent need to be living in fear of something or someone.  Someone always has to take the blame and if it’s not the Scottish and Irish terrorists of the 1980s, it’s the Islamic terrorists of today.

Rankin entertained and informed.  He gave his die-hard fans what they came for and those who knew little to nothing about him and his works (i.e. me) an enjoyable evening.  There were even hints dropped about a future collaboration between Fox and Rebus which excited many in the audience, but that’s a different story.

You like to fly in the face of everything we are taught as children: you like speaking to strangers.  Why is this?

Well, I have a habit of talking to strangers, striking up conversations with the person next to me on the bus, commenting on something in the shopping queue, finding something to laugh at with the elderly lady sitting beside me on a bench. I’m not forcing myself to chat to every person I come across, more that I enjoy talking to people and then finding ways to document these interactions in words. Plus, turning my life into fiction with real people as characters and real places as settings can be very entertaining!

The 100 word stories are so satisfying to write, and I’ve almost mastered the art of writing exactly to that length, without needing to count. I try to write in a variety of formats, depending on my subject matter. One of the reasons I turned to very short fiction is to offer an exercise in concision, so I could really focus on my writing, sentence-by-sentence, word-by-word. I was writing a very long novel, and feeling lost within it. By writing these smaller pieces, I began to see the detail in the novel again.

I’ve had a fantastic time meeting a whole range of people, and hearing about their lives. The point of this project is to try to capture a sense of the city through those who live here and – although I’ve only been here for a few days so far – I have a good feel for the area. Everyone is happy to share a story or two. My favourite moment happened this morning with a fisherman. We stood in the sunshine by the canal, as he spoke to me about his younger days, his friendships and the parts of the city he considers home. I’ve noticed the pride in people’s tone as they tell me about the place and a general liveliness and energy.

Víctor Rodríguez Nuñez was the star of a very enthralling poetry reading this week at the Ikon gallery, as part of Birmingham’s 13^th Book Festival and the first guest of a series of international poet events.

The Infinite’s Ash is his latest poetry anthology, the first to be presented as a parallel text of Spanish and English, thanks to the translation by his wife Katherine Hedeen. Through the readings of his lyrical Spanish poetry, accompanied by English translations and glimpses into the fascinating life of Rodríguez Nuñez, we learnt not only where his poetical inspiration comes from but also, what it means to be a Cuban poet and the importance of language in expression.

Currently living in Ohio, United States, Nuñez’s family continues to play an undeniably important role in his poetry and he dedicates each of his poems to someone special. For instance, Elogio del neutrino (Eulogy for the Neutrino)is devoted to his son, who teaches quantum physics at Havana University. Nuñez explained: “His mum is probably one of the best poets – this made him choose physics, he was basically sick of poetry!” Despite having roots in Galicia, North Spain, the poet’s family opted not to speak Galician as they wanted to be one hundred per cent Cuban. Their determination was not only admirable but also decisive for Nuñez and his poetry.

The poet told the audience of life experiences, and how key historical periods directly influenced his most recent works. A five year span in Nicaragua, during a very religious revolution, was intriguing and prompted him to do his very best to believe in something; the poem Confesiones (Confessions) lead to a personal conclusion “I have faith in reason” . Two and a half years in Colombia opened his mind to the questioning of reality and he penned Yo juego el fútbol con misasesinos (I play football with my murderers).  Living outside of Cuba prompted his growing proximity to his country and its identity:  “When I was in Cuba, I was less Cuban than when I’m not there.”

Growing up in Revolutionary Cuba, too, had its fair share of effects: “I was an enthusiastic young communist. In assemblies they used to make me take all the notes and I used that big notebook to start writing poetry”. Later, as a writer and journalist, Nuñez met Fidel Castro personally; he didn’t think much to the Cuban President’s taste in poetry though, and when Castro asked for the poet’s work, he did not send anything, knowing Castro would never read it!

When asked about how exactly he goes about writing poetry, Nuñez explained: “I don’t sit down and write, I am writing all the time. Sitting at a desk for three hours a day is not a good discipline. The best discipline is to be attentive wherever you are”.  Nuñez described his search for “a poetry that is… participatory yet not political… communicative yet not explicit… dialogic yet not conversational, Cuban yet not essentially nationalist’. Adding his advice for aspiring poets he simply said, “Do it your own way, you are right!”

An undoubtedly essential element of the Cuban poet’s anthology, and previous works, is the choice of  language. Naturally, Spanish is his mother tongue and he has more freedom of expression when writing in this romance language. However, Nuñez says that he does like to see and hear his poetry in another language; he has even been told it sounds more beautiful in French! The matter of translation then, is vital for the communication of meaning. Nuñez himself uses translation as part of the editing process, cutting out whatever he knows won’t sound good in English. Earlier poems were translated by a “master of structure and a very good translator”, according to the poet himself, yet this translator was a passionate rhymer while Nuñez hates rhyme and tries to avoid it at all costs. Currently, Nuñez says he has as much control as possible on his translated poetry but having found the perfect translator, his native English-speaking wife Katherine, it is easy to do so and she of all people knows him best.

On a final note, Nuñez explained the importance of knowing the culture of the readers you are translating for because the translation of meaning doesn’t have to be, and often shouldn’t be, literal. The Infinite’s Ash is an experimental anthology, where emotion and lucidity come together. However, Nuñez reminded the audience, “When we write in any one language, there is a part of the soul we can never express.”

You’re invited to do the same: speak to strangers in Birmingham and write about it on Gemma’s dedicated website in 100 words or less. Have you had an interesting encounter? An odd moment with a fellow city-dweller? Did you end up speaking to someone you might not have normally? Share it with the good people of Birmingham!

http://speaktostrangers.co.uk/bhambookfest.html